USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 50
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W. C. Hedden was born February 22, 1844, in Shelby county, Ken- tucky, the son of Lee and Susan (Moreland) Hedden, who were natives of Kentucky. When eighteen years of age young Hedden enlisted (1862) in Company D, Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, and served with the Union forces on provost duty in the Kentucky mountain region for one year. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1863. In 1866 the entire family came to Bates county, and Lee Hedden settled in the southwest part of Osage township, dying on his home place in 1878. The Moreland family came to this county and settled in Osage town- ship in 1867. Mrs. Hedden, mother of the subject of this review. departed this life in 1876. There were three children in the family of which
WILLIAM C. HEDDEN.
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William C. was the eldest, the others being Mary, wife of J. A. Borron, former well-known residents of Osage township, both of whom are now deceased; Florence, wife of D. E. Jarnette, Sheridan, Wyoming. W. C. Hedden was married October 5, 1865 in old Kentucky, to Mary E. Yates, who was born May 3, 1847, in Kentucky, a daughter of Enoch and Matilda (Watts) Yates, who accompanied the Hedden family to Missouri in 1866 and made a settlement just over the southern boundary line in Vernon county. For the first five years of his residence in Mis- souri, Mr. Hedden and his wife made their home with the Yates family. The children born to W. C. and Mary E. Hedden are as follow: W. E. Hedden, born December 24, 1866, lives at Moscow, Idaho; J. W. Hedden, was born November 7, 1868, lives at Sedalia, Missouri, where he follows the business of cement contractor; E. L., a farmer in Vernon county, born April 20, 1873; Susan M., born January 21, 1875, died July 16, 1887 ; C. A., now managing the Hedden home place, born September 29, 1879; one child died in infancy ; C. R. Hedden, Sheridan, Wyoming, born April 17, 1884. C. A. Hedden married Loma Griggs, and has two children: Ruth, and Harold. W. E. Hedden married Jennie Welch and has seven children: Lois, Raymond, Susie, Fred, Forrest, George, and Catherine. J. W. Hedden married Lillis Estes and has three children: Juanita, Lawrence, and Minor. E. L. Hedden married Hattie Hanley, and has two children: Carl, and Clyde. The mother of the foregoing children of W. C. Hedden died September 11, 1913. She was a good and faith- ful wife and kind mother to her children. She and Mr. Hedden became Christians at the same time and Mrs. Hedden was a devout member of the Baptist church. Mr. Hedden has been a life-long Democrat and has taken considerable interest in the affairs of his party during his long residence in Bates county. He is widely known and universally respected by all who know him. As the Fairview correspondent of the "Rich Hill Mining Review" he has achieved more than a local reputa- tion as an able writer who employs the vernacular in presenting the doings of the folks of the Fairview neighborhood in a more or less philosophic and humorous vein. In fact his fame has spread over Mis- souri to a large extent and the familiar title of "Gabe" which is always appended to his articles appearing each week in the "Mining Review" is known to thousands of interested readers who are always entertained by the quaint sayings and productions from the pen of the Fairview correspondent.
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William F. Duvall, president of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- pany of Butler, Missouri, president of the Farmers Bank, is one of the prominent and influential citizens of Bates county. He was born May 1, 1868, a son of William Penn and Sarah J. (Whisler) Duvall, both of whom were natives of Highland county, Ohio, the former a descendant of Marquis Duvall, a native of France, who settled in Maryland in the early colonial days. William Penn Duvall came to Missouri in 1868 with his family and they located on a tract of land two miles south of Virginia, a farm which the father purchased and improved and where he resided for twenty years. Mr. Duvall, Sr. moved from the farm near Virginia to a country place adjoining Butler on the west, where he lived until 1895 and then retired from active participation in farm work and moved to Butler, in which city he was an honored and highly respected resident at the time of his death in 1917 at the age of nearly eighty years. Mrs. Duvall, widow of William Penn Duvall, still resides at Butler, one of the most esteemed of Bates county's pioneer women. To William Penn and Sarah J. (Whisler) Duvall were born the following children: Laura B., an instructor of voice culture at Chicago, Illinois; the second daughter died in infancy; William F., the subject of this review: Mrs. J. A. Nicholas, of Pomona, Los Angeles county, Cali- fornia ; J. B., vice-president of the Duvall-Percival Trust Company of Butler, Missouri; Arthur, treasurer of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- pany of Butler, Missouri; and Homer, cashier of the Farmers Bank of Butler, Missouri.
In the public schools of Bates county, Missouri, William F. Duvall received his elementary education, which was supplemented by a thor- ough course at Butler Academy, from which he graduated, after which he completed a business course at Butler Commercial College. When he left the last named institution, Mr. Duvall accepted a position as bookkeeper at Sherman, Texas, which place in the business world he resigned after one year and returned to Bates county to enter the teach- ing profession and for one year was employed as teacher in the public schools of this county. Mr. Duvall then entered the real estate and abstract business at Butler and had been thus engaged for two years when, in 1891, he associated himself with H. E. Percival, of Burling- ton, Vermont, in the organization of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- pany. which is now one of the largest, best, and most aggressive finan- cial institutions in this part of the state.
In December, 1890, William F. Duvall and Jessie S. Childs were
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united in marriage. Mrs. Duvall was a daughter of T. W. and Sarah J. Childs, of Butler, Missouri. To William F. and Jessie S. (Childs) Duvall were born two sons: Thomas Warren, who is a lieutenant in the army of the United States and is located, at the time of this writing in 1918, at Camp Funston, Kansas; and William Leslie, a stu- dent in the Butler High School. The mother died in June, 1899. The marriage of William F. Duvall and Regina Rosser was solemnized in December, 1900. Regina (Rosser) Duvall is a daughter of W. F. and Marian Rosser, of Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Duvall's mother is now deceased and her father is a well-known resident of Butler. Mr. and Mrs. Duvall reside at Butler, their home being located on the corner of Fort Scott and High streets.
William F. Duvall has capably served as mayor of the city of But- ler. He was elected in 1900 on the Republican ticket, overcoming a Democratic majority of one hundred fifty votes by one hundred fifty votes. He was elected president of the Bates County Drainage Board in 1914 and has been twice reelected and is still a member of the board at the time of this writing. Mr. Duvall is the owner of the Duvall ranch, a farm comprising sixteen hundred acres of land, an unimproved, uncultivated, timber-covered tract at the time of his purchase in 1911. The larger part of the ranch has been cleared, leveled, tiled, placed under cultivation, and there are now six sets of improvements on the place. A lateral ditch of the large main drainage ditch touches the ranch on the east. Mr. Duvall has been interested in growing alfalfa on his place and, finding the crop a very valuable and profitable one, he has been instrumental in getting other men interested in alfalfa growing. He is one of the most intelligent and progressive agriculturists in the state as well as a successful, efficient business man and financier.
The Duvall-Percival Trust Company of Butler, Missouri, was estab- lished December 1, 1891 by the association of William F. Duvall of Butler, Missouri and H. E. Percival of Burlington, Vermont under the firm name of Duvall & Percival. They paid in as capital one thousand dollars each, making the capital two thousand dollars, and their first book, containing a record of their business, is a little brown book, still in existence, about eight by twelve inches and less than one inch thick. The business was continued under this management for three years when J. B. Duvall, a brother of W. F. Duvall, associated himself with the firm and the business was continued under the same name, Duvall & Percival. The capital was gradually increased as their business demanded it
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and the business was carried on under the same management until the capital had increased to fifty thousand dollars, and on March 1, 1907, the Duvall-Percival Trust Company was incorporated with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The officers were: Will- iam F. Duvall, president; J. B. Duvall, vice-president; Arthur Duvall, treasurer ; and with Homer Duvall and W. D. Yates as additional members of the board of directors. This management continued from March 1, 1907, constantly adding to their business and building up their surplus, until June 1, 1912, being five years from the time of incorpora- tion, when the surplus had increased to fifty thousand dollars, the same amount of the capital. During this time, the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- pany had paid ten per cent. dividend. The business of the company had gradually increased until it was found necessary, on June 1, 1915, to increase the capital stock. The reports showed at that time fifty thou- sand dollars capital ; fifty thousand dollars, surplus ; and forty thousand dollars, undivided profits. The capital stock was then, on June 1, 1915, increased to two hundred thousand dollars, leaving a surplus fund of fifty thousand dollars and at the present time, in 1918, the capital stock of the Duvall-Percival Trust Company is two hundred thousand dollars ; surplus, fifty thousand dollars ; and undivided profits, twenty-five thousand dollars and the company has continued under the same management ever since its incorporation, the present board of directors being, as follow: W. F. Duvall, president ; J. B. Duvall, vice-president ; Arthur Duvall, treasurer ; and Homer Duvall and W. D. Yates. The trust com- pany has now outstanding some ten million dollars in farm loans in Mis- souri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The annual business in new loans amounts to one and a half million to two million dollars, aside from the renewals on one and a half million dollars of maturing loans each year.
In January 1907, Mr. Duvall was elected president of the Farmers Bank of Bates county, one of the most important financial institutions of western Missouri which has had a wonderful growth since its inception in 1889. This bank was first organized in that year by Bates county farmers and was promoted by D. N. Thompson who had associated with him: J. K. Rosier. Dr. J. Everingham, J. J. McKee, and others. The bank was continued under the original management until 1906 when the controlling interest in the bank passed to the Duvall brothers of Butler, Missouri. Under their capable and ambitious management it has pros- pered as never before and has taken high rank among the banks of Bates
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county and western Missouri. In January, 1906, W. F. Duvall was elected cashier and held this position until the following year when he was elected president of the bank. Homer Duvall was then elected to the post of cashier.
The Farmers Bank was started with a capital of twenty thousand dollars. In January, 1906 the capital was fifty thousand dollars and sur- plus of ten thousand dollars, and the deposits were around two hundred thousand dollars. Since that time both capital and deposits have in- creased with leaps and bounds until at the present time, the capital is fifty thousand dollars, surplus fifty thousand dollars and undivided profits ten thousand dollars. Its deposits are over one-half million, dollars. During eight years time from 1906 to 1914 the bank added forty thou- sand dollars to its surplus and on December 1, 1914, was passed as a roll of honor bank by reason of its surplus being equal to its capital.
The present officers, January, 1918 are: W. F. Duvall, president; O. A. Heinlein, vice-president; Homer Duvall, cashier; H. H. Lesee, assistant cashier; the directors being as follow: E. A. Bennett, J: J. McKee, O. A. Heinlein, Clark Wix, J. W. Choate, Frank Holland, F. N. Drennen, W. F. Duvall, Joseph M. Mckibben, T. S. Harper, J. B. Duvall, and Dr. T. W. Foster.
James E. Williams, postmaster of Butler, ex-city treasurer, ex-coun- cilman, and ex-mayor of Butler and the present proprietor of the Will- iams' Grocery in this city, is a native of Bates county, Missouri, a mem- ber of a well-known and prominent pioneer family of this section of the state. Mr. Williams was born in 1866 near Altona, son of James T. and Elizabeth (Quisenberry) Williams, the former, a native of Ken- tucky and the latter, of Sedalia, Missouri. James T. Williams came to Missouri, when he was a boy twelve years of age, with his parents and the Williams family settled on a farm in Pettis county. In 1854, the son, James T., came to Bates county and located on a tract of land near Altona. He went to Sedalia at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War and for two years served with the Confederates in the regi- ment commanded by Generals Price and Shelby. After the conflict had ended, Mr. Williams returned to Bates county in 1865 and resumed his interest in agricultural pursuits. He took an active and prominent part in public and political affairs and for a long time was one of the leading and most influential men in his township, filling with much credit to himself and universal satisfaction to his constituents a num- ber of offices within the gift of the voters of the township. To James (34)
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T. and Elizabeth (Quisenberry) Williams were born six children: Mrs. Mary Wright, of Kansas City, Missouri, the widow of Dr. L. M. Wright, a late prominent physician of Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Bettie Harrison, Adrian, Missouri; Z. J., who was for many years one of the leading businessmen of Butler, whose death occurred in Texas in January, 1916 and interment was made in the cemetery at Butler; Mrs. Jennie Bow- den, Sherman, Texas; James E., the subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Ella Ewing, who is deceased and whose remains are interred in the cemetery at Butler. The mother died in 1911 and the father in 1914 and both parents were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler.
James E. Williams attended school in Altona and Butler. He is a graduate of the Butler Academy and of Weaver & Dever Business College at Butler. Since he was twenty years of age, Mr. Williams has made his own way in the world. He began his mercantile career in the employ of his brother, Z. J., who for several years conducted a grocery establishment in Butler. After a few years, the two brothers formed a partnership and added hardware and implements to their stock of mer- chandise and this firm continued in business for twenty years, when James E. purchased Z. J.'s interest in the store and the latter moved to Texas. James E. Williams has continued the business here since that time. He is not only prominent in business circles in Bates county but he has been a dominant factor in the political life of Butler and has filled several important positions in the city government. Mr. Williams served eight years as chairman of the Democratic committee, one term as city treasurer, ten years as city councilman, and two terms as mayor of Butler. During his term in the mayor's office, the first paving in this city was laid around the public square and a walk made to the cemetery. In April, 1914, James E. Williams was appointed post- master of Butler and, at the time of this writing in 1917, he is now serv- ing his city in that capacity.
In 1895, James E. Williams was united in marriage with Susie Steele, daughter of John and Martha (Baker) Steele, both of whom are now deceased. John Steele died at Butler, Missouri in April, 1917. He was a Union veteran of the Civil War and an active participant in the work of the Grand Army of the Republic at Butler in late years. Mr. Steele was a worthy and consistent member of the Baptist church and he ever remained loyal and true to the beautiful faith, the teachings of which were so nobly exemplified in his life. To James E. and Susie (Steele) Williams have been born three children: James S., who is now a student
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
at the State University at Columbia, Missouri; Walter E., a senior in the Butler High School and a member of the class which graduates in 1918; and Martha, who is a pupil in the graded schools of Butler. The Williams home is in the city of Butler at 206 Havanna street.
For many years, Mr. Williams has been closely connected with the business interests of Butler and with important municipal enterprises. He is a practical man of affairs, possessing superior executive ability, and as a citizen he stands far above reproach.
Charles E. Fortune, the well known county recorder of Bates county, is one of the county's most capable officials. Mr. Fortune is a native of Illinois. He was born in Cass county in 1875, the oldest of three children born to his parents, Michael and Elizabeth (Kirscher) For- tune, the former, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and the latter, of Germany. Their children are, as follow: Oliver C., Kansas City, Missouri; Julia, the wife of Glenn Earl, Kansas City, Missouri; and Charles E., the sub- ject of this review. Michael Fortune was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1838. He came to Missouri from Illinois in 1880 and located at Free- man in Cass county, where he entered the mercantile business. One year later, Mr. Fortune moved to Rich Hill and engaged in the grain business in addition to following his trade as barber. For the past twenty-two years, he has been employed by the government as tax col- lector in Rich Hill. Michael Fortune is now seventy-nine years of age, but he is still as alert and active physically and mentally as many men twenty years his junior.
In the public schools of Rich Hill, Missouri, Charles E. Fortune received his education. He assisted his father in the feed and grain busi- ness and did a man's work when still a mere lad. Mr. Fortune studied and mastered telegraphy and became an expert operator and for eight years was employed in this capacity by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, being located for a few months at Panama, Missouri and then at Rich Hill. In the election of November, 1914, Charles E. Fortune was elected county recorder of Bates county and he is the present incumbent in this office, at the time of this writing in 1917. Mr. Fortune has fully justified the choice of the people of the county, proving himself to be a thoroughly trustworthy and efficient official.
July 22, 1909, Charles E. Fortune and Elmira Fry, daughter of Cor- bin Fry, a late prominent citizen of Rich Hill, were united in marriage and to this union has been born one child; a daughter, Carolyn E., who is now seven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Fortune reside in Butler at 210
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North Havanna street. They are socially very popular and number their friends by the score both in the city and in the county.
As a citizen and public official, Charles E. Fortune stands high in his community. As a business man, he maintains an honorable record and he deserves much credit for the rapid strides he has made from an humble position in his father's feed and grain store to one of influence and affluence in the community. His career has been marked by fidelity to duty and upright, straightforward business methods.
Daniel Cresap .- The career of Daniel Cresap and his devoted wife, residing on their large estate in Osage township in the evening of their long and eventful lives, is an interesting one and involves an account of hardships undergone and difficulties overcome, the mere confronting of which would have daunted souls less brave than Mr. and Mrs. Cresap. Through all of his career Mr. Cresap has been handicapped by the early loss of a limb, but his indomitable courage and will, and restless energy combined with the assistance of his noble wife have carried him onward and upward until he is now one of the largest land-owners in Bates county. The Cresap estate comprises seven hundred sixty acres in a single body in Osage township, all of which is in cultivation but two hundred forty acres which are used for pasture land. A resume of the output of crops from this large tract in 1917 gives the reader an idea of the magnitude of the farming operations carried on from year to year on the Cresap place. In that year there were one hundred forty acres of corn harvested which produced an average of forty bushels to the acre; thirty-five acres of wheat were sown which pro- duced fifteen bushels to the acre; one hundred acres of oats yielded thirty-five bushels per acre; one hundred twenty acres of hay were cut which yielded over a ton to the acre. Mr. Cresap now rents out the greater part of his land. He formerly handled hundreds of cattle yearly. He is a real pioneer of Bates county and has lived here since July, 1866, and has resided on his home place since March, 1878. Mr. Cresap bought his home place of one hundred sixty acres in 1878, at a cost of five dollars per acre and has been continually investing in land since that time, paying all the way to twelve dollars and fifty cents an acre.
Daniel Cresap is descended from one of the oldest and most promi- nent of the American families. He was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, February 20, 1835. He is the son of Daniel (IV) and Margaret (Humes) Cresap, the former of whom was a native of Virginia and the latter of
DANIEL CRESAP, SR.
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Pennsylvania. Daniel, Sr., was a son of Robert Cresap, a native of Vir- ginia. The genealogical record of the Cresap family compiled some years ago states that the founder of the family in America was Thomas Cresap (I), who was born at Shipton, Yorkshire, England, in 1702 and died at Oldtown, Maryland, in 1789. He was a colonel of American soldiers in the Indian wars and probably served in the French and Indian War. His son, Daniel (II) was born in 1727 and died in 1798. Robert (III) was the son of Daniel (II) and was born in 1765. Members of this family have occupied prominent places in American history. Michael Cresap, a son of the original ancestor, Thomas Cresap, was an associate of George Washington in his surveying expeditions and was accused by Logan the Indian chief, with having brought about the killing of Chief Logan's family. In 1854, the parents of Daniel Cresap moved to Piatt county, Illinois, and lived on rented land. At this period the elder Cresap was an old man and his sons tilled his farm. The children of the family were: Hamilton, deceased; Benjamin Franklin, a captain of a company in the One Hundred Seventh Regiment of Illinois Infantry during the Civil War, now deceased; Mary, deceased; Daniel, subject of this review; and Wesley, deceased.
At the early age of thirteen years, Daniel Cresap met with an acci- dent which caused the loss of his right limb, and thus seriously handi- capped through life he has managed to achieve success. He was a young man when the family located in Illinois in 1854. Two years later, in 1856, he made the trip to Texas, and was engaged in the cattle business in that state when the Civil War broke out. He lost all of his possessions and narrowly escaped with his life in making his way out of the South back to the old home in Illinois. He boarded a steamboat at Jefferson, on the bayou on Red river and made his way up the Mis- sissippi as far as Memphis when the boat was stopped by the Confederate authorities and not allowed to proceed further. He made his way by train through Tennessee and Kentucky to Cairo, Illinois. The train was loaded with northern refugees like himself and he landed at Cairo practically penniless, and was forced to borrow a dollar to pay his fare home. During the war he managed his brother's farm near Cham- paign, Illinois and saved money to the extent of two thousand dollars. This fund, he brought with him to Bates county, Missouri, in 1866, placed one thousand five hundred dollars in the bank at Butler and lost it all in five days by the failure of the bank. He first settled in New Home township at the head of the island on the shores of the Marais
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des Cygnes where he paid thirteen dollars an acre for land. He built a home on the hill overlooking his land and lived there for fifteen years, and then sold the farm which he had improved at thirteen dollars an acre. All of his fifteen years of hard work had gone for naught. Floods washed away his crops so often that he gave up the hopeless task of trying to even make a living in the flood lands of the river. He came to his present location in 1878, "dead broke." He broke up his first ground with a yoke of oxen and a horse abreast, and he and his faithful wife were hard put to it in order to make ends meet during the first few years in Osage township. Mrs. Cresap worked like a hired hand, sold butter at seven cents a pound, and she and one hired man milked thirteen cows daily. She eked out their slender resources by taking in sewing, doing washing for the neighbors and keeping boarders. Soon the clouds began to lift and prosperity smiled upon them ; the memory of their hard struggles became dimmer and the Cresap farm grew larger and larger and the days of plenty were at hand for this deserving couple who were so ambitious that a little would not content them. Their ambitions have been realized and the splendid farm stretching away from the home which they built on the first quarter section is actual testimony of their achievements.
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